The Cloth Always Remembers
by ChcknHippy
Summary: Jack inherits the farm. And all the heartache and heartbreak that go with it.
1. The agony of memories

Jack came in from playing tennis outside when he heard the phone ringing. "Hello?" he answered. "Is this the residence of Jack Farman III?" an unknown voice questioned. "Yes, speaking." "Mr. Farman, I regretably inform you that your grandfather, Jack Farman Sr., has passed away." "Oh, that's so sad, I haven't seen him since I was 7 1/2." "The funeral will be on Spring 1. The wil reading will be on the following day." "Okay, I will make sure to come, has my father been informed?" "Yes, he sends his apologies to you that he will not attend." "Oh, I figured as much since he wouldn't let grampa retire when he got sick. Grampa didn't want the farm to run down. Dad wouldn't take it over. The old man never asked me." "Okay, well just to inform you think is the Mayor of Flower Bud Village, we hope to see you at the funeral."  
Jack arrived at the Flower Bud Village dock around an hour before the funeral. As he walked up to the Town Square he heard singing and as he entered he was shocked to see people drinking and laughing. "WHAT IS THIS?!" he screamed, infuriated. An old woman slowly and wobbily strolled up to him. "This *hiccup* my dear boy is a wake!" "A WHAT?!" "A party to celebrate the dead's passing into the afterlife." "Oh, well if this is what he wanted...." "Oh, it is, he organized it in his will. You missed the reading. We had it early on account of we would all be tooooo drunk *hiccup* later." "Well, did I get anything." "Oh, yes. You got the farm." and with those six words Jack felt an onrush of old heart ache and pain from his childhood and teen years.   
When Jack was 7 years old he came to visit the farm his grampa owned. He was only supposed to stay 2 weeks. And in that 2 weeks, he met and fell in love (only he didnt know it was love and still didn't) with a young girl. The girl was his best friend. After the two weeks ended, nobody came to get him. His father had forgotten. His mother, having died two years earlier, wouldn't have forgotten. Jack Jr. had thrown himself into his work after his wife's death, unpurposly negleting his son Jack III. When Jack finally was brought home, it had been half a year. He never wanted to go back to the farm again. He was to afraid of being forgotten. However, before he left he had given the little girl a piece of an old blue hankerchief. He had told her that if he ever came back to show the clothe to him and he would renew the friendship, provided she remembered as well. 


	2. Dreams of the past

When Jack went out to the farm for the first time in 10 1/2 years, he was upset to find how run-down it was. "Oy! This is horrible." He set to work clearing the land and was done around 1 o'clock in the morning. He was very sore by the time he finished. He went to bed and he woke around 2 in the afternoon. He wandered around town until he saw an inn. He walked in and had a plate of dinner and made a phone-call to home. He quit his job over that phone. He felt it as a turning point. Good or bad he could not tell. He saw a girl and a fleating memory of some cloth came into his mind. He dismissed it and left the inn, feeling the red-haired girl's eyes watching him. He didn't really want to know the girls. He knew there were some but he didn't want to know them. He kept getting the pain of remorse and guilt for his grandfather. He was scared of these fealings and tried to avoid them.   
He slept that night and dreamt of things he had lived so long ago. When he awoke he remembered those dreams and the girl. He now had a longing for that friendship and decided that he did indead want to meat the people of the town. He had high hopes of finding the girl. Who knows what that might bring? friendship or even if he dared hope, a family he could treat right. Not like his father had done. 


	3. Meeting the Girls

Jack stepped outside his small home and went to search the woods (might find something worth selling). He was walking towards the hot springs, and when he reached it there were two girls standing there. "Hi, I'm Ann, so nice to meet you!" "Hi-ho! I'm Popuri, do you need any chicken feed? We sell for cheap. Chickens too." "Hi, I'm Jack, sorry I don't own any animals besides a puppy." "Oh, what's the puppy's name?! " Ann inquired happily. "Robby." "Robby? what a strange name for a dog..." Jack shrugged, he spun around to look at things and spotted some bamboo shoots. He gathered these and put them in the crate. He had met two girls. Ann and Popuri. He knew there were other girls. Three. Three other girls. If Ann or Popuri would have been that little girl from so long ago, one of them would have mentioned the cloth. He headed into the town to ask about buying some seeds. He had to start somewhere and he figured turnips would be a good start.   
As he stepped into the grocery store he saw a girl with very pretty hair. "Hi, I was wondering about some turnip seeds?" "Oh yes we have those. Are you the new farmer?" "Yes, My name is Jack Farman." He saw her startle at the name. "The third. Jack Farman the third" "Oh yes, I remember now." Jack was interested, maybe this was the girl he had known so long ago! "Mayor Thomas was telling us of you, said you had the same name as Old Jack. I didn't even remember he had a grandson or even a son for that matter." Jack's heart sunk. What if the girl he had known had moved away? "Yes, well those turnip seeds?" The girl went over to the table and gave Jack to bags of seeds at a discount (on account of him being new to the place and all). He paid her and walked down the street with his head down.   
He bumped into something and it fell over. It was a girl. "S..s..sorry, I w..wasn't looking where I was g..going." She said and looked as if she was about to cry. She ran into a building that he found was the library. It was closed. He heard sobbing but he could do nothing about it. He would find out what happened later. He had scraped his knee on the road so he decided to head to the clinic.  
He walked in to the clinic around 1:30. A pretty nurse stood behind the counter. "Hello, you seem to have a scrape! Here have a band-aid." He took the band-aid a applied it to the wound. "Thank you. I'm Jack. I just moved into the farm." He said. "Oh the old Farman place? I hope you can bring it back up to speed." She stated. Jack thought he saw something in her eyes. Something he reconized, but as soon as he saw it, it vanished. "Well," she said, "hope to see you around town. But not in here. Only the sick come here." and with that he went home and wrote about his experiences that day. 


End file.
